Represent!

<p>In their exposé of Gen Z <i>The</i> <i>New York Times</i> qualified its members as the most diverse generation in American history. Recent Broadway hits have found a successful formula in productions showcasing the emotional turmoil of contemporary young people yet the majority of these works represent predominantly white voices both in terms of authorship and representation. Non-white characters tend to exist only in a world of colorblind casting rather than speaking to their distinct racial and cultural heritage. <p/>This anthology helps correct that balance and presents a unique offering of plays written for multicultural teenagers by diverse authors who have spent a significant part of their careers working closely with young people in urban settings. The playwrights - among them award winners such as Chisa Hutchinson and Nilaja Sun - have created texts that are dramatic and comic satirical and earnest touchingly real and amusingly surreal. <p/>Varying in length and format suitable for classrooms and youth groups of all sizes the plays address such themes as ethnic and cultural identity; ancestry and assimilation; bullying and self-empowerment; disenfranchisement and alienation; parental pressure to over-achieve youth activism and community-building; and the very real perils of daily school life in an era of gun proliferation.</p>